Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #12 *Arrest*

[Jake18]

I’ve just had a break at work, haven’t followed any online updates and there are now 12 pages of this thread! Assuming things have been interesting

 

[ch_13]

I don't know if her current lawyers advised her to take the stand.

I do remember that the original lawyers she retained in August 2023 told her to give the police a "no comment" interview. Later she dropped them and insisted that her current attorneys release a public statement that told her side of the story. (We now know that statement was filled with lies.)

So, it's possible that her current attorneys are in agreement with her testifying, just like they agreed to release her statement.

If that's the case, then their calculus may have been that they needed a Hail Mary (to use an American football idiom) if they were going to get a not guilty verdict, so they may as well put their client on the stand and take their chances.

 

[Bats]

I don’t think continually answering “I don’t know or I don’t remember” makes her a good witness. IMO

Time will tell whether it was a good strategy or not. As i say, her team are highly experienced.

 

[LinasK]

I’ve just had a break at work, haven’t followed any online updates and there are now 12 pages of this thread! Assuming things have been interesting

Fireworks and her weasling out of difficult answers. She had to admit to the CCTV footage of her dumping her dehydrator and foraging. She denies that she had pictures of Death Caps taken on her kitchen scales on her phone.

 

[MrJ]

I’ve just had a break at work, haven’t followed any online updates and there are now 12 pages of this thread! Assuming things have been interesting

A mountain of lies, lots of 'I don't recall' answers when being cross-examined, and generally rather a pitiful display on the stand IMO

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Three question-answer moments from today's evidence​

This was good..!

There's been a lot of rapid-fire question and answer moments in Erin Patterson's evidence so far today.

While being questioned by her defence barrister Colin Mandy SC, Erin Patterson denied murdering her in-laws.

Mandy: Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Donald Patterson by serving that meal?

Patterson: No I didn't.

Mandy: Did you intend to harm him in any way?

Patterson: No.

Similar responses followed as Erin was asked about Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson.

Later, prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC asked Erin about the sixth beef Wellington that was prepared for the lunch.

Rogers: You intended to serve one of those beef Wellingtons to Simon Patterson, had he turned up at the lunch?

Erin Patterson: If he'd come, I would have given him a beef Wellington too ... but not one with death cap mushrooms intentionally.

Dr Rogers also took Ms Patterson to her police interview, and asked her about her lie to detectives when she told them she had never owned a dehydrator or dehydrated food.

Rogers: You knew that if you told police the truth then you would be immediately suspected by police of being involved in a poisoning event?

Erin Patterson: That's probably true, yes.

 

[drsleuth]

At the end of the day her excuse for all her lies was that she was "scared", just doesn't cut it with me, when 4 people are critically ill in ICU & 3 died ( & these are people she supposedly loved ) , she could have at least told the truth that she had foraged & that it was accident?.

Was the time to think about others Erin & not yourself!

EVEN if the medical team didn't pick up the reason they were all so sick ( very unlikely with 4 victims from the one meal ) , Erin knew she had foraged mushrooms that she added to the meal, she knew about death cap's , she should have known that maybe that was the cause due to her foraging & told the Dr's that & the public health..............but here we are still unable to give straight forward answers & being evasive IMO

 

[MrJ]

These next few hours are going to be fascinating.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Why's that? Literally no defence ever recommends this.

As someone said earlier, Patterson was treading water while the defence were spoon feeding her. The prosecution were always going to make her look even worse and it can't get much worse for her now. The jury can't be impressed with this and it has only just begun.

 

[MrJ]

As someone said earlier, Patterson was treading water while the defence were spoon feeding her. The prosecution were always going to make her look even worse and it can't get much worse for her now. The jury can't be impressed with this and it has only just begun.

Yep, that was me, and it's looking more evident that EP's woes are just getting more acute from here

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago
We return from the break

By Joseph Dunstan

We're back from the lunch break, and prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC continues her cross-examination of Erin Patterson.

She comes to evidence given by Victorian health official Sally Ann Atkinson, who was leading a team that was urgently investigating the source of the death cap mushroom poisoning in the days after the lunch.

 

[MrJ]

Just now
Erin tells more people that she did not forage mushrooms in the lunch

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers recaps evidence from Ms Atkinson that she'd asked Erin if she'd foraged mushroom for the lunch, and Erin said no.

"Did you tell her that you had not picked the mushrooms for the lunch?" Dr Rogers asks.

"I don't remember [her asking] but if she had, I would've said no," Erin says.

 

[drsleuth]

3 minutes ago - 02:19 PMMax Corstorphan

Trial resumes​

We are back from lunch and Erin Patterson is back in the witness box for cross-examination.

Ex ‘would have had beef Wellington too’ if he’d come

LIVE UPDATES: Erin Patterson says she would have served ex-husband Simon Patterson a beef Wellington, too, if he had turned up to the deadly lunch.

thenightly.com.au

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago
Erin quizzed over what the prosecution says are lies

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then pivots to phone call records which detail a couple of calls between Simon and Erin on the Sunday after the lunch.

The prosecutor recaps Simon's evidence that he'd told Erin at that time that her lunch guests were unwell.

"He only told me about Don and Gail on the Sunday," Erin says.

Dr Rogers says by Erin's account, she was aware there were two guests unwell, before she presented at Leongatha Hospital on Monday.

The prosecution suggests that she lied to a doctor after learning about Don and Gail's illness.

Mr Mandy jumps in and says his client has not confirmed that she lied.

Dr Rogers suggests to Erin that she lied to a doctor when she said she didn't go mushrooming.

"I don't recall her asking that, but if she did ask ... I would've asked her what she meant by that," Erin says.

"Is your evidence today that you don't understand the term mushrooming?" Dr Rogers asks briskly.

"No, my evidence is that I would've wanted to know what she meant by mushrooming. It's not a phrase that I have or would've used. I would've said foraged if I meant picking," Erin says.

 

[MrJ]

Just now
The term 'mushrooming' debated

By Joseph Dunstan

Erin raises issues over the term mushrooming, saying it could mean multiple things.

"What do you understand mushrooming to mean?" Dr Rogers asks.

"I think it could mean a couple of things. So I think people might use it in regards to foraging, but they might also use it in regard to other uses of mushrooms that are not eating," Erin says.

When asked what she means by foraging, she says "pick and eat".

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Erin contests that she panicked after learning people were unwell

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers suggests to Erin Patterson that she knowingly served foraged death cap mushrooms to her guests at the lunch.

Erin denies it.

Dr Rogers takes Erin to her comment that she "panicked" after the lunch and did not want to tell people that she had foraged.

Erin says she did not say that.

"Can you please alert me to the answer that I gave where I said that I panicked when I learnt that everyone was unwell?" Erin asks.

"Certainly," Dr Rogers replies.

There's a pause.

 

[LinasK]

Key Event
1m ago
Erin quizzed over what the prosecution says are lies

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then pivots to phone call records which detail a couple of calls between Simon and Erin on the Sunday after the lunch.

The prosecutor recaps Simon's evidence that he'd told Erin at that time that her lunch guests were unwell.

"He only told me about Don and Gail on the Sunday," Erin says.

Dr Rogers says by Erin's account, she was aware there were two guests unwell, before she presented at Leongatha Hospital on Monday.

The prosecution suggests that she lied to a doctor after learning about Don and Gail's illness.

Mr Mandy jumps in and says his client has not confirmed that she lied.

Dr Rogers suggests to Erin that she lied to a doctor when she said she didn't go mushrooming.

"I don't recall her asking that, but if she did ask ... I would've asked her what she meant by that," Erin says.

"Is your evidence today that you don't understand the term mushrooming?" Dr Rogers asks briskly.

"No, my evidence is that I would've wanted to know what she meant by mushrooming. It's not a phrase that I have or would've used. I would've said foraged if I meant picking," Erin says.

So she's trying to get out of this lie by quibbling semantics?

 

[Megnut]

Is she seriously maintaining that she was truthful in saying she hadn't foraged for wild mushrooms because, to her mind, the question implied a time limit? She didn't think they'd be interested to learn that she'd ever hunted death caps????

She's full of it.

JMO

 

[Detechtive]

6 minutes ago

Court has resumed after the lunch break​

The trial has resumed after the lunch break.

Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers is continuing her cross-examination of Erin Patterson.
Dr Rogers refers to the evidence of Sally Ann Atkinson, a Victorian health department investigator who questioned Erin about the source of the mushrooms after the lunch.
She says Ms Atkinson told the jury she asked Erin if she foraged for mushrooms but Erin denied doing so, saying they were purchased.
Dr Rogers: “Did you tell her that you had not picked the mushrooms for the lunch?”
Erin: “I don’t remember her asking me that question in the conversation, but if she had, I would have said no.”

 

[brisbanemum]

1m ago
Erin contests that she panicked after learning people were unwell

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers suggests to Erin Patterson that she knowingly served foraged death cap mushrooms to her guests at the lunch.

Erin denies it.

Dr Rogers takes Erin to her comment that she "panicked" after the lunch and did not want to tell people that she had foraged.

Erin says she did not say that.

"Can you please alert me to the answer that I gave where I said that I panicked when I learnt that everyone was unwell?" Erin asks.

"Certainly," Dr Rogers replies.

There's a pause.

Oh my goodness she really thinks she’s beyond clever, doesn’t she?